The German Animal Welfare Federation is taking yesterday's edition of “Report Mainz” as an opportunity to once again call for an end to the transportation of animals to third countries. The ARD political magazine reported in detail on how bull calves that have no use in Germany are taken to Spain for fattening and sold to the Middle East, where they die in agony.
“We have been denouncing the same conditions for 30 years. This torture for the animals must stop. Only a unified EU approach can put an end to the transportation of live animals to the Middle East and North Africa. The German government must continue to campaign for this. Until then, a national ban on transports to countries outside Europe is urgently needed. This would send a strong signal to other European countries. Germany should take on an important pioneering role here,” says Thomas Schröder, President of the German Animal Welfare Federation.
Even if no animals are exported directly from Germany to third countries for slaughter, German animals are still affected. The bull calves come from German dairy farms. Because the male calves of dairy cattle breeds later neither give milk nor produce enough meat for fattening, they are economically worthless and therefore a “disposable product” for the dairy industry. The calves are sold to Spain and other EU countries at around 14 days of age, where they are fattened for a short time before being sold on to countries outside Europe for slaughter. The days-long transportation, often even by ship, is an ordeal for the animals. Slaughter on site - usually without stunning - is not compatible with EU laws.
In order to fundamentally change this situation, milk consumption would have to fall and livestock numbers would have to be reduced. With a smaller number of dairy cows, there would also be fewer “superfluous” calves. The resulting smaller number of bull calves would have to be reared, fattened and marketed in Germany in an animal-friendly manner. In the export business, the export of meat should replace the transportation of live animals. Moving away from highly bred dairy breeds towards breeds that can be used for both milk and meat production would also make the transportation of bull calves to third countries superfluous.
